An Unintentional Time Capsule

My Facebook friends were probably cursing me this week. I made sure that the first pictures everyone sees upon looking at their profiles are from the most awkward time of their lives...

Yep. That would be high school prom.

Being the cool person dork that I am, I really loved prom. So much, that I made my way to four of them. And yes, I'm gloating. I was proud of that accomplishment. Totally worth something today too...I mean, I'm pretty sure that's how I got my day job. That simple fact made my interviewer think I was cool. (Ha.)

My senior prom was in 2005, a time when most high school students had some type of digital camera, but still took disposables in their little sequined handbags to capture the evening's events. Nobody wanted to get yelled at for losing their expensive $200 digital camera. And who wants that type of responsibility anyway on the best night of their lives???

I never got that disposable camera developed. I don't know for sure, but I think I put it in the car (aka Land Yacht) I was driving back then to take it to the mall to the camera store, but it never made it out for one reason or another. Between my sister and I, we had everything in that car except the kitchen sink, which probably was in there once or twice when we moved, but was the only thing that ever came out. So the camera was as good as lost the minute it made its way into the boat, lost under the heaps of water bottles, homework, sports equipment, and other teenage girl paraphernalia.

After my sister went to college, my mom sold the land yacht for scrap metal and parts, and she and my sister cleaned it out. That may or may not have taken longer than all of our three moves combined. The camera found its way to me and then into the car I drive now (certainly on its way to being developed), where it has been in the passenger side door pocket, through wind, rain, and temperatures far above 150 degrees, or whatever the recommended temperature for storage, for at least FOUR YEARS. The film expired in 2006.

This past week I found it (again) and it finally made it to the camera store for developing. I figured the pictures would totally fit in, since they definitely would have the expired film look. I was not disappointed. I was, however, amazed that I am old enough to own a time capsule. EEK.

And now for a trip down memory lane...

At least our prom fashions don't look out of style yet...or is that what everyone says when they've lived through a fashion era?

The traditional prom pose...

And that fabulous '00s hairstyle. I didn't know there was one, until I saw this.

And yet looking at these pictures makes me smile, because this really was one of the most fun things of high school. I loved my dress, I loved my friends, I loved dancing the night away, but most of all, I loved my date. And I still do, all these years later.

Annapolis in the Spring

I heart spring. Just in case you couldn't tell, I'm making it official.

Since the weather was so nice yesterday, I took a little photo walk of some of my favorite things in Annapolis and some of my favorite things about spring: boats, flowers blooming, sunny skies, water, the color yellow...

And this hearty daffodil, that just couldn't stay fenced in. It had to explore beyond its boundaries and experience the rest of the world.

 

All of these were taken on film; the for the top two, I used my new dreamy Diana Lens...which I love. It's blurry quality makes it feel whimsical and carefree...so much like spring!

The F-word

One of the reasons I want to be a wedding photographer is because I LOVE wedding photography. Actually, love might be the wrong word. Ben would tell you that I'm obsessed. I tell him that it's really because I'm passionate about it. And I say it passionately.

I follow the blogs of other wedding photographers because they inspire me. One of my newest favorites is Jose Villa. His images are yummy, like vanilla cupcakes. Warm, sweet, and light. And beautiful and real. And the best part is - wait for it - HE STILL SHOOTS WITH FILM.

Yes, that is the f-word for photographers. FILM. In a digital, fast paced world, analog methods are falling out of style. That is, if you don't use them to define your style like Jose Villa.

The first photography class I took was in black and white film. In Italy, when I studied abroad. And it was as fabulous as it sounds. We had a dark room that I spent hours upon hours in, and loved every second of it. It was the most work I had ever put in for a class but the work that I minded the least because it never felt like work. It felt like fun. When I decided I wanted to get back to photography last summer, I bought a 35mm Canon SLR on eBay for $50, to reacquaint myself with the art, before I splurged on a big digital camera.

And oh how I still love my Rebel 2000. It takes dreamy pictures.

Photojojo is a great inspiration for creative ways to get shots. They posted an article a while back about shooting macro photos by inverting your lens, so I decided to try it with a miniature toy giraffe that I had from another photo project (we'll get to that later). I actually liked the result.

So the night before I went to the WPPI roadshow in DC, I was trying to pick out my outfit for the conference because Jasmine Star was going to be there, and she is my Idol. And just in case I got to talk to her (which I did, and sounded totally star-struck) I wanted to look good. Aslan was giving me advice on which shoes to wear. He totally arranged them for me too.

My sister is hot stuff. Check out her abs. And the gorgeous colors of the sea and sky.

 We were going for the wind-in-the-hair look.

Love, love, love the colors in this one. I have never gotten colors like this (without post-processing) from my digital camera. Gorgeous.

I don't think I will ever be able to choose digital over film, or film over digital. Truth is, I like them both. And the good news is, until they stop making film altogether, I won't have to choose between them. I think I'll choose both.